Maggiefromcanada - thank you! I am indeed v. proud of him. And please thank yr friend for her service. For many years I've respected those who deploy but now that I am privy to all the dirt on what these people really go through... My respect has tripled. And while I would absolutely support him if he deployed again... man, I dread it for him. LOL!

Cygnus - thank you so much. :-) I did almost everything myself so it was quite stressful but totally worth it.

Andieta - thank you. I got a little headstart once I knew he had ordered the ring, LOL! I had a couple of good helpers, too. My mom was awesome.

Renrose - thank you. :-)

Ottilie - thank you so much. I had this super clear picture in my head of what I wanted and at the end it all just was chaos, hahaha! We had it at a friend's place so there was nothing pre-set, nobody knew how to have a wedding. I had to tell everyone how to walk down the aisle and stuff. It was sort of nuts. :-) If you're planning a wedding and want any tips, let me know. Learn from my mistakes! I can add you on Pinterest, and I saved, like, EVERYTHING. I pinned it all. I am also chock full of info on how to have a wedding on a budget. I think all told I spent maybe $5K, and my mom maybe $2K. In the end it's all about using what you have. Oh, and pumpkins, haha!

I met my husband 14 years ago through a club my sister had started at our local community college. I was a senior in high school and he was 19. I remeber hangingout with him all the time, because he was friends with my sister. In 2000 I decided I liked him enough to date him. We dated for about five months before he asked me to marry him. I don't think either one of us had planned it. He came over after work and it just happened. I didn't get my ring till Christmas. We got married almost 12 years ago (May 16) We are not planning on having any children, but I still love names a whole lot and if things were different I think we would have kids.

We "met" on Myspace (talk about an ancient relic!) He messaged me because we had the same taste in music and he was new in town and was trying to make friends (I still tease him about it being a cyber booty call) I was 19, living with my best friend, and working/partying every waking moment. He had just turned 29 and had moved from Vermont on a whim because one of his good friends lived here and he needed a change. We talked on the phone for about 15 minutes the same night he messaged me, and then met in person about an hour later. Spur of the moment, in the middle of the night. We sat on the balcony of his apartment and smoked and talked for hours, until past sunrise. We ate breakfast together and then parted ways because we both had to work. But we have spent every single night together since then. We never really "dated," we went from meeting to living together in just under 3 months. They say when you know, you just KNOW. Our 6 year anniversary was a few weeks ago.

I wouldn't say we are 100% perfect for each other to this day, we've definitely had our fair share of passionate screaming matches. We're total opposites personality wise, he thinks I'm lazy and infuriatingly lackadaisical and I think he's an anal retentive idealist. But in all the BIG aspects of life, we agree totally. We're both bleeding heart Progressive atheists, we fight for the same causes. We're a team. I value his intelligence and adventurous nature, and his unorthodox life experiences (he was homeless in NYC when he was 14-16 for one example) We can bicker all day and be absolutely sick of each other, but then talk and laugh and cuddle in bed that night. We have a deep rooted, unconditional love for each other and I can definitely see us together when we're ancient.